Hillforts and Headaches

Rothbury, Wednesday, January 1, 2014

AS / 3M / 1020'

Geoff Davis

On New Year’s Day Mudwoman and I switched to fell running mode (as per the last 16 New Year’s Days!) and headed to Rothbury to run ‘Hillforts & Headaches’ (Hillforts ‘cos you run over and finish on an ancient hillfort & headaches ‘cos it’s New Year’s Day!) Anyway, the race is quite short, just three miles, but those miles are practically all up hill and quite steep, with over 1,000’ of climb, earning the race an ‘A’ classification from the FRA.

The whole thing is quite low key with a field of 73 runners assembling outside the Newcastle Arms in the centre of Rothbury for the ‘off’. The pain starts almost immediately with the first hill just across the river from the town. This goes on for about a mile and half and those suffering from ‘headaches’ soon begin to feel the pain. Phil Green (NFR & Heaton) was one of those this year but his form is such that I was still unable to catch him!

It was cold this year (I wore hat and gloves for the whole race) and the mist was down for the last 2-300′ of climb but there’s no real ‘nav’ problems in this race so everyone finished safely, all be it with lungs that were fit to burst! The race was won by ex-Strider Phil Sanderson & Mudwoman and I were pleased with our respective 2nd MV50 & 3RD WV50 places as we were rewarded with two bottles of ‘Hobgoblin’! Unlike most other races this one finishes on top of a hill 3 miles from where you started! However, the downhill trot back to the start is very pleasant and provides a great opportunity to catch up with old friends from fell running.

There’s a danger that this race could be lost if no one steps forward to take over the organisation. We both hope a saviour can be found!

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